The anniversary of one of the most moving experiences I have ever had.

After making it through nearly a full day at work for the first time in three days, I came home with just enough energy to take in a movie. In what may be a sign of a new attitude, I am hanging with the dogs downstairs instead of following our usual routine, which is to hide out upstairs in the aerie also known as my bedroom. It's about time my sadly-neglected living room experienced some actual life force!

Anyway, the point of this post is not about where we are hanging out. Rather, the movie the dogs and I watched was "Primary Colors," an often-seen favorite of mine, in which John Travolta and Emma Thompson play a Presidential wannabe couple who strongly resemble Bill and Hillary Clinton. One of the scenes in the movie brought out a truly emotional reaction in me . . . it was the one in which Travolta, a candidate in the primary, is visiting a school where adults are learning to read and meets some real people with real challenges in their lives. Watching the emotions play out across his face as he touches the hand of one of those people took me instantly back to the feelings I experienced last fall in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I canvassed for John Kerry. (Yes, it was a year this week since so many hearts were broken as Shrub was re-elected, dooming us to 4 more years of a downward spiraling state of affairs in this country . . . but I digress).

So, in October of last year, I drove with a friend to Little Rock, Arkansas, where we assisted the local Democratic Party headquarters with its get out the vote efforts. Here is something I wrote at the time about the experience:

We spent most of our time canvassing in North Pulaski County, but also found time to participate in an old fashioned candidates' parade in North Little Rock and to sticker every Kerry supporter who moved during a rally after the parade. We even met Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, who were in town for a non-political charity event, but stopped by to rally the troops before began our door-to-door work.

My canvassing team was made up of my friend and I, along with another Texan and a Bostonian transplanted to Little Rock. We worked in an area near an Air Force Base, which as one might expect is heavily populated by active and retired military folk. For the uninitiated, by "canvassing," I mean that we walked door to door, encouraging people to vote, talking to them about who they supported, telling them about early voting and, for the undecideds, talking with them about the issues. On Saturday, we found great support for Kerry even in this military-heavy area. Day 2 of canvassing was even better . . . in addition to finding that nearly every voter we visited is a Kerry supporter, even the people driving down the street who saw our Kerry buttons waved, honked and gave us thumbs up signs of support! Nearly all of the folks we met throughout the weekend seemed pleased to see us out working for the cause--even some Bush supporters complimented us on our efforts.

In addition to finding great enthusiasm for Kerry, most supporters we met have already voted for him! Clearly, the Arkansas Democratic Party folk in Pulaski County have done a tremendous job of educating their local voters on the joys and importance of early voting. In another piece of good news, almost every person we met who said he/she will vote for Bush plans to split the ticket and vote for the Democratic Party candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress, a definite blessing in light of those high-quality Dem candidates (Blanche Lincoln and Vic Snyder).

We found the same inspiring level of support for Kerry during our parade and rally in North Little Rock! In the parade, Kerry was represented by a significant number of supporters who rode in vehicles and walked with banners; in contrast, the opposition was represented by a lonely 3-wheeler with a small Bush/Cheney sign attached to the front. The crowds along the parade route were friendly--many of them shouted out support for Kerry and for us. In response to our cries of "Vote early", most replied joyfully with a loud, "I already did!" A parade watcher who demanded from a comfortable seat on his front porch that he be thrown some bubble gum (there was none to be had) laughed heartily and said "Right on!" when informed (okay, by me), "If the economy was better, there WOULD be bubble gum!"

Speaking of the issues, we chatted with people of various genders, ages, races and economic levels who say they support Kerry because, among other things, they feel that Bush lied to them about the Iraq war, they think Bush is out of touch with the common man and they are losing jobs and want someone who will try to help put them back to work. It was heartening to see how closely many of these people are following the election and how interested they are in talking about the issues. There was no part of this experience that I enjoyed more than simply walking around at the rally and talking with people--everyday people--about the issues that concern them enough to make them come to a rundown strip center parking lot on a Saturday night to listen to yet another politician speak. I loved hearing what they had to say and I loved finding out that we had so much in common and felt the same about so many issues even though our lives are different in so many ways.

Finally, we Texans who descended upon Arkansas experienced a bit of celebrity in our all-too-short weekend! Before our Saturday canvassing session, we were rallied by Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. Ted spoke eloquently about the need to protect our environment; Mary expressed frustration with the Republican-sponsored notion that Christians can't be Democrats. In addition to meeting celebrities, we were practically treated as such. We were treated very kindly by the Arkansas Democratic Party staff, who made sure we found great places for our meals and were otherwise looked after properly. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette interviewed us about our GOTV efforts and we were trailed while canvassing by a BBC reporter who is putting together a documentary on the election.

I hope that I have imparted a bit of the fun and inspiration that you can find while canvassing. There is no feeling like meeting actual voters, encouraging them to make a difference and talking through the issues with them to help them make an informed decision. As you know, getting people to the polls is crucial. If you are lucky enough to live in a battleground state or are able to travel to one between now and election day, please consider doing so. If you can't make it to such a state, go to www.johnkerry.com and sign up for their excellent phone banking project that permits you to call battleground state voters from the comfort of your own home. I promise that you will be glad you made the effort!

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I know this is an off-year for the "big" elections, but I can already feel the energy for another battle ebbing back into my psyche. On November 13th, Harry Reid, Joe Biden and Barack Obama will be here, and I plan to greet them with open arms and ask what I can do to help. It is never too early to make sure that 2008 turns out the way we want it to.